Braiding-machine.



A. G. FAIRE.

BRAIDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAB..19, 1909.

V Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

TJ NTTET b TAT PA TENT QFTQZE.

ALBERT CHARLES FAIRE, OF OCKBROOK, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO FAIRE BROS. & CO. LIMITED, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

BRAIDING-MAOHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 22, 1910.

Application filed March 19, 1909. Serial No. 484,399.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, ALBERT CHARLES Fauna, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Chiswick, Ockbroolt, in the county of Derby, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Braiding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to braiding niachines and has particular reference to an improvement in connection with the bobbin or spool carriers thereof.

The object of the invention is to render possible the use of much longer bobbins or spools on braiding machines so that the increased capacity of the longer bobbins will greatly minimize the necessary, and now frequent, stoppage of such machines for the purpose of renewing the empty bobbins which, owing to their present restricted length are of small capacity and very soon run out.

By reducing to a minimum the necessary stoppages of a machine, it will be obvious that its output will be proportionately increased, and this is brought about, according to the present invention, by the employment of bobbins or spools of increased capacity so that the running out will occur less o frequently.

The length of the bobbin or spool of a braiding machine has hitherto been limited as, owing to the particular construction of the carriers, it has been found that the bobbin would not unwind satisfactorily when increased in length beyond certain limits.

In the particular construction just referred to, the eye through which the yarn or thread passes as it leaves or unwinds from the bobbin has been fixed in the frame of the carrier and has occupied a position therein approximately central of the length of the bobbin which. latter is carried in close proximity thereto. The result of this has been, that while with a bobbin or spool of short length the thread or yarn would travel from end to end of the bobbin when unwinding therefrom as it was drawn through the centrally disposed eye, a long spool or bobbin 2'. 0., one whose length exceeded a certain limit could not however be employed for the reason that the thread would not travel beyond a certain distance on-each side of the centrally fixed eye through which it was drawn, the distance from either end of the long spool to the said eye being so great that the thread came off at a sharp angle or across the winding of the thread on the bobbin thus causing it to pull tight and break instead of unwinding freely. According to the present invention however, bobbins or spools of considerably increased length may be employed and the construction of the spool carriers are improved so that the yarn or thread may freely unwind irrespective of the length of the bobbins employed.

The invention is carried into eifect by providing each bobbin carrier with a movable eye through which the yarn or thread is drawn off the bobbin. The said eye is arranged so that it will automatically adjust its position or follow the travel of the thread throughout the length of the bobbin during the unwinding. The result of this is that the thread always passes off approximately straight from the bobbin and unwinds freely from all parts throughout the length thereof.

The movable eye is preferably permitted a free movement so that it is carried along by the travel of the unwinding thread as the latter is drawn therethrough.

In order that the invention may be clearly and readily understood I have appended hereto a sheet of drawings wherein is illustrated a bobbin or spool carrier both of the type hitherto employed and of the improved construction according to my invention and in further describing the invention reference will be made to said drawing, in which Figure 1., is a perspective view showing the type of bobbin carrier hitherto employed. Fig. 2., shows in perspective a bobbin car rier constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 3., shows the movable thread eye or guide per 86.

In the type of bobbin or spool carrier here tofore used and illustrated in Fig. l, the thread, cotton, or yarn 1 is drawn off the bobbin or spool 2 supported by a spindle 2' through a fixed eye or guide 3 mounted in the frame l and in a position approximately central of the length of the bobbin. lVith this type of carrier the length of the bobbin 2 has been restricted within certain limits as it has been found that with a bobbin above the maximum length the angle at which the thread 1 left or unwound from the ends of the bobbin 2 to pass through the fixed eye 8 was so sharp as to cause the 1 thread to pull tight across the winding of the thread upon the bobbin and thus break instead of unwinding freely.

According to the present invention the eye through which the thread 1 is drawn off the bobbin 2 is made movable up and down the frame 4; so that the said eye will automatically adjust its position or follow the t avel of the thread 1 throughout the length of the bobbin during the unwinding. That is to say, the movable eye will mox e up and down the frame land always occupy a position opposite or adjacent to that part of the bobbin from which the thread is unwinding so that irrespective of the length of the bobbin the thread will always pass approximately straight from the bobbin through the eye.

According to a convenient construction of the invention, as shown in Figs. 2 and 8, the movable thread eye may be in the form of a small flanged block 5 furnished with a hole 6 for the passage of the thread. This flanged block 5 is located within and is freely movable up and down a slot 7 in the frame a of the bobbin carrier said slot 7 extending for a distance approximately the same as the length of the bobbin.

T he eye block 5 is preferably circular and is recessed centrally at S (Fig. 3) which recessed portion is located between the two sides 9 of the slot- 7, the flanges 10 of said block preventing it leaving the slot but being a sufficient distance apart to permitthe free travel of the block along the slotted frame.

The eye block 5 moves automatically up and down the slot 7 being actuated by the travel of the thread backward and forward along the bobbin as it unwinds therefrom.

By means of the improved carrier herein described it will be obvious that the length of bobbin or spool employed, and conse quently its capacity also, are practically unlimited as a bobbin of almost any length desired may be used provided that the movable eye is allowed to travel a distance to suit the length of the bobbin.

Instead of a block movable along a slot as hereinbefore described, the yarn eye may be mounted upon or consist of a block slidable along a rode-r may clip around the frame 4 and slide up and down the same.

lVhat I claim then is 1. A braiding machine comprising a spindle adapted to support a bobbin, a member parallel to the axis of said spindle, provided with a longitudinal slot, a thread eye movable along said'slotand having a more or less rotary or rolling motion therein, thereby distributing and equalizing the wear of the thread on said eye and allowing the thread eye to automatically adjust its position throughoutthe length of the bobbin to suit the position of the unwinding thread.

2. A. braiding machine comprising a spindle adapted to support a. bobbin, a member parallel to the axis of said spindle, provided with a longitudinal slot, a thread eye traversable by the action of the thread up and down the said slot with a more or less rolling or rotary motion therein, thereby permitting the thread eye to follow the thread throughout the length of the bobbin as it unwinds therefrom for the purpose described.

3. A braiding machine comprising a spindle for holding the thread supply, a vertical frame provided with a longitudinal slot, a mo able thread eye comprising a circular block grooved cireumferentially to form flanges which permit itto fit within the longitudinal slot in the frame and to move or roll freely up and down therein for the purpose described.

l. A braiding machine comprising a spindle adapted to support a bobbin, a vertical frame having a longitudinal slot therein, a perforated block movable in said slot, said block having flanges forming a recess which engages the 'alls of the slot, the threads from the bobbin passing through the perforated block.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT CHARLES FA IRE.

Witnesses E. N. LEWIS, Gnonen Lnsann. 

